Nouméa is the capital city of New Caledonia.

Nouméa is also one of the largest cities in the French special collectivity of New Caledonia and is also the largest French-speaking city in Oceania. At the September 2019 census, there were 182,341 inhabitants in the metropolitan area of Greater Nouméa (French: agglomération du Grand Nouméa), 94,285 of whom lived in the city (commune) of Nouméa proper. The first European to establish a settlement in the vicinity was British trader James Paddon in 1851.